Empowered Funds LLC Makes New Investment in Alerus Financial $ALRS

Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 99,166 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,084,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alerus Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $56,672,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Alerus Financial by 1.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,269,253 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,101,000 after purchasing an additional 16,779 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Alerus Financial by 6.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 886,815 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,027,000 after purchasing an additional 56,763 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Alerus Financial by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 603,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,591,000 after purchasing an additional 23,403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Alerus Financial by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Endeavour Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 516,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,632,000 after purchasing an additional 2,597 shares in the last quarter. 51.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALRS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Alerus Financial from $32.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings downgraded Alerus Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $37.00 target price on shares of Alerus Financial in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. DA Davidson set a $36.00 target price on Alerus Financial in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Alerus Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.50.

Alerus Financial Price Performance

Shares of ALRS opened at $32.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $811.99 million, a P/E ratio of 30.76 and a beta of 0.67. Alerus Financial has a fifty-two week low of $20.31 and a fifty-two week high of $34.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $32.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.33.

Alerus Financial (NASDAQ:ALRS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $80.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.99 million. Alerus Financial had a net margin of 6.87% and a return on equity of 14.41%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alerus Financial will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alerus Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 25th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 25th. Alerus Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 83.02%.

Alerus Financial Company Profile

Alerus Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ALRS) is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The firm provides a full range of commercial and consumer banking products, including deposit accounts, lending solutions and treasury management services for individuals, small businesses and larger corporate clients. Through its community banking network, Alerus emphasizes local decision-making and personalized service to meet the needs of its varied client base.

In addition to traditional banking offerings, Alerus operates a national mortgage origination and servicing platform that delivers home purchase and refinance loans.